


We've Got the Light to Fight the Shadows

by littleghost91



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: And They Will Be Again, Developing Relationship, Erin and Abby Were Girlfriends, Erin is Boldly Bisexual and Out of the Closet, F/F, Falling In Love, Little Bit of Everything, Past Relationship(s), Reconciliation, Some Fluff Some Angst Eventual Smut, Yatesbert - Freeform, background toltzmann
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:00:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24093979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleghost91/pseuds/littleghost91
Summary: Erin had loved her better than anyone else ever would, and Erin had hurt her worse than anyone else ever could. She didn’t deserve Abby’s forgiveness, let alone her friendship, let alone a space in her arms and her bed. Yet, Abby knew she would give her all of those things and more - because Erin was all she had ever wanted.
Relationships: Erin Gilbert/Abby Yates
Comments: 10
Kudos: 27





	We've Got the Light to Fight the Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> Let’s talk about how Ghostbusters (2016) is the saga of Abby and Erin’s love story: friends to lovers, lovers to rivals, rivals to friends and back to lovers again. The title, almost as long as the ones these two marrieds come up with in canon, comes from the song “Read All About It” by Emeli Sandé, which kills me how well it encapsulates Erin and Abby’s relationship. Thanks for reading, loves!

Abby Yates had often wondered what awaited her on the other side. 

Granted, she had expected to find out at the end of a long and full existence, when she could walk into what lay beyond the veil with a curiosity borne in true acceptance of her fate. The bell, after all, tolled for everyone in their proper time, and she couldn’t think of a more fitting close to a lifetime’s pursuit of proof of the paranormal than to finally,  _ finally  _ receive the answers she sought. 

She had imagined possibilities where she awoke as though from a dream to find all of her loved ones there to greet her and welcome her to the world beyond. She had imagined possibilities where the afterlife resembled a brilliant golden field ready for exploration and adventure, an infinite expanse of sunlight and wildflowers which stretched on and on into the ether. She had even imagined possibilities where she stuck around on Earth for a while as a ghost to deliver some karmic justice to the scientists who had discredited and mocked her. Her favorite fantasy, though, was that in death, she would find herself inexplicably at the center of a long wooden bridge, surrounded by the forest. She would look up to the sky, and galaxies would unfold before her eyes in a kaleidoscope of color; she would reflect on the life she was able to lead and regard the wonders of the universe in awe. Then, when she was ready, she would become the stuff of it, herself. 

The inside of the portal, a screaming visual cacophony of storms, was nothing like the beautiful images of the afterlife Abby had conjured up in her mind. Time slowed down in the eerie silence of the void. Angry electric energy discharges popped and cracked in the whirling vortex all around her as she hurtled deeper and deeper into oblivion, dragged further from the city - from her friends, and Erin - with each passing moment. 

Under any other circumstances, she would have been elated for the opportunity to glimpse a peek into even this, but she felt no curiosity or sense of serenity about her impending demise. She squirmed in Rowan’s grip; it was useless. Her chest constricted. Her breath shuddered. Her eyes welled with tears. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t  _ fair _ . 

They had saved the city, the world, their terrible receptionist, and each other. Sure, each of the Ghostbusters had accepted the possibility that they may not survive the night, as much as none of them wanted to think about it. Abby reasoned they’d only barely survived crossing the streams with their atoms un-imploded - a feat, given the maniacal enthusiasm with which Holtzmann had explained the near-certainty of it - because the portal had blown them back before they could do it for too long. But they’d succeeded in using the nuclear reactor on top of the Ecto-1 to cause a total protonic reversal, and as the researcher stood at the edge of the abyss with her atoms remarkably still intact, she had allowed herself to taste victory, a newfound determination set in her eyes. 

It was the moment she stopped running on the adrenaline high that had propelled her up to that point and she started to run toward a future  _ they would still be part of, because they could do this; they could win.  _

Abby remembered turning to Erin in admiration of the woman the physicist had burst back into being within a few short days of returning to Abby’s life. The person who had stormed into her office in an indignant fury barely contained by a tweed two-piece and wholly impractical heels wielded her proton gun like she was born to, and Erin’s ecstatic grin as she mowed down spectral entity after entity in the middle of Times Square could have rivaled Holtzmann’s.  _ That  _ was the Erin she’d missed, the Erin she had so long held onto hope still existed within her friend somewhere, and it rendered Abby speechless to watch her blaze into the power she had denied herself for too many years. She decided the first thing she was going to do after they averted the apocalypse would be to make sure Erin knew exactly how proud of her she was. 

In the split second that followed this thought, Abby caught sight of the look the defeated Rowan cast on the team on his way into the portal. It was a look she knew well: anger, hate, and a misplaced sense of injustice rolled together into what could only be described as vengeance burning in the depths of whatever remained of his soul. 

_ Oh no _ . 

Recognizing at once what he was going to do, Abby had just enough time, and her reflexes were just well-honed enough, to shove Patty out of the way of his outstretched hand. 

And just like that, the fire in her spirit ignited by the realization she would live was extinguished. She had just gotten Erin back, only to be ripped away from her again right as their moment of triumph was within their reach. 

A concentrated burst of something in the portal jarred Abby back to her present reality. Her neck whipped backward as Rowan suddenly released her, an act which sent her tumbling through space. She cried out from the surprise of it and threw her hands out on instinct, as though there were anything for her to brace herself against in the churning hellscape. 

A voice called out - her own? It was hard to tell. She curled her body forward in an attempt to orient herself upright. Abby wasn’t sure what that would do, exactly, apart from prolonging the inevitable - but perhaps at the least, she could slow her descent long enough to figure out a plan, to buy herself a next step. A flash of movement flickered just beyond her line of sight, and she realized whatever it was was coming closer. 

_ Last chance to do something, Ab,  _ she thought. 

Narrowing her eyes, she concentrated on the figure and extended her arms toward it. 

Two hands made a resolute connection with her forearms and held on as though they were determined not to let go. Her own hands collided with the figure with little grace as she scrambled to find safety in something solid. Steadied, now, Abby looked up to find a familiar face, in a familiar jumpsuit, peering back at her. Her breath caught in her throat, and when she found her voice, it came out as a sob. 

“Erin,” she breathed. 

The words she would have followed up with died in her throat as a flood of emotion rose up within her. 

_ You came back _ . 

For a moment, Erin cradled her in the warmth of her smile and the love of her bright blue eyes. An understanding born in all of the years they had cared for each other - and all of the years they had never stopped caring for each other as much as they refused to admit it - passed between them, and when Erin spoke, she replied to the words Abby left unsaid. 

“I wasn’t going to leave you twice.” 

She caressed Abby’s arm with her thumb, never breaking the gaze they shared, and all Abby could do in response was let out a hum of acknowledgement. She didn’t trust her ability to keep composed if she tried to do anything more. The sharp, metallic sound of a cord under stress drew her attention to Erin’s waist, where it occurred to Abby that her friend in all of her brilliance had tethered herself to something outside of the portal. 

She didn’t have long to consider the implications of Erin’s quick thinking; the implications actualized themselves in a matter of seconds. The cord cinched around Erin’s waist. She yelped as she was yanked upward, imploring Abby to hold on. Abby clung to Erin as fiercely as Erin clung to her. 

The spark of hope in her blood reignited. 

Abby almost didn’t dare to hope, lest she invite the universe to prove her wrong again in a way that would doom Erin right alongside her. A shock jolted through both of their bodies as they were pulled backwards toward the entrance of the portal. A second one followed in succession, more violent than the first. 

Abby tightened her hold on Erin. 

Erin tightened her grasp on her. 

They kept holding onto each other as they crashed through the doors of the Mercado and back onto the streets of New York, each of them tumbling over the other before they landed in a painful heap. Abby felt vaguely aware of the radioactive pack still strapped to her back, and she was certain that in spite of Holtzmann’s clever design work, it was not meant to weather this kind of abuse. 

She felt all the more aware that when they broke apart upon hitting the pavement, Erin reached out for her and tried to keep them together. 

Patty and Holtzmann rushed them as they stumbled to their feet, and the historian’s relieved cries mixed with the engineer’s enthusiastic squeals blended into a kind of odd and beautiful symphony for Abby, who’d only minutes prior had every reason to believe she would never see them again. She and Erin were both swept up in the tight embraces of their teammates. The harsh light of day  _ \- how long had they been in the portal for it to become day? - _ accosted her eyes, but Abby could have kissed that sun all the same. 

She was alive. 

She was alive, because Erin jumped into a portal to certain death right after her, and saved her, and she could have kissed Erin right then and there, too. 

_ That  _ thought gave her pause. 


End file.
